Concerning urban mobility, motor vehicles in the L-category – i.e. powered vehicles such as scooters, 3-wheelers, and light 4-wheelers, weighing less than 450 kg – already offer an interesting complementary solution to “soft modes” of mobility such as public transport, walking and cycling. Yet, L-category vehicles are at large still not sufficiently attractive.

L-category vehicle industry faces relatively high component and subsystem costs, in particular with respect to powertrains, because of only low-to-medium sales volumes per vehicle model, a lack of modular platform strategies, limited as well as less advanced development methods and tools (as opposed to the high-volume car industry), and a lack of cooperation. This is further aggravated by still comparatively high greenhouse gas emissions of L-category vehicles.

Therefore a novel approach of a comprehensive modular strategy for next generation electrified powertrains was shown, which is able to cover all kinds of L-category vehicles. Modularity is not limited to real-world components and subsystems (incl. innovative components), but also comprises virtual development using integrated co-simulation and the FMI / FMU automotive industry standard. This generally is supported by an intense collaboration and transfer of know-how concerning methods, components and technologies from the high-volume automotive industry. The novel strategy guarantees re-usability, flexibility and sharing of components and subsystems across the whole L-category, thus helping to generate economies of scale there and making an important contribution to sustainable future mobility.